Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that the Coastal Georgia region lowered its unemployment rate in July.
 
The 10-county Coastal Georgia region also posted annual growth in unemployment claims, preliminary numbers show.
 
“Georgia continues to perform well in terms of jobs, claims and other data I’m seeing,” said Butler. “Georgia’s strong economy was also clear in our local communities in July, a month that saw several again set records.”
 
Nationally, the unemployment rate was unchanged in July at 3.7 percent. Georgia’s rate dropped 0.1 percentage points to settle at 3.6 percent.  A year ago, Georgia’s unemployment rate sat at 3.8 percent.
 
Rates fell or held steady across nine of Georgia’s 12 planning regions.
 
In Coastal Georgia, the unemployment rate decreased in July. The rate went down by 0.1 percentage points in July, settling at 3.7 percent. A year ago, the rate was 4.1 percent.
 
The labor force decreased in July by 958. The July total was 332,917. That number is down by 2,396 from the total from July 2018.
 
Coastal Georgia ended July with 320,672 employed residents.  The number decreased by 381 in July and was down by 947 as compared to last July.
 
The number of unemployment claims increased in July by about 65 percent. When compared to last July, claims were down by about 3 percent.